National Biofuels Action Plan

elease No. 0258.08
Contact:
USDA: Jim Brownlee 202-720-4623
DOE: Jennifer Scoggins 202-586-4940

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FACT SHEET: National Biofuels Action Plan
October 7, 2008

In an effort to meet President Bush’s “Twenty in Ten” goal and meet the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) targets in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) the Biomass Research and Development Board (the Board)-co-chaired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-developed the National Biofuels Action Plan (NBAP) to accelerate the development of a sustainable biofuels industry.

To meet increasing demand, we must continue to advance solutions that improve our energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions – our economic competitiveness, national security, and environmental health depend on it.

Biomass Research and Development Board

The Board determined that meeting aggressive production targets requires enhanced interagency collaboration among the senior decision makers from 10 federal agencies and the White House. The NBAP identifies key research challenges and defines clear interagency actions critical to developing the science and technology needed to make next-generation, cellulosic biofuels cost-effective so as to grow a biofuels industry and supply chain in a sustainable manner.

NBAP action areas include:

* Sustainability: A working group led by USDA, DOE, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is defining science-based national criteria, which will be established by November 2008, and indicators to assess the sustainability of biofuels production coordinated with ongoing international activities.
* Feedstock Production: A Board-commissioned interagency working group conducted a feedstock availability and cost study using EISA production targets. A separate Board working group is developing a long-term integrated feedstock research and development plan across the federal government, which will reach completion by December 2008.
* Feedstock Logistics: A working group led by USDA will facilitate collaboration to develop and deploy logistics systems that can supply cellulosic feedstocks to demonstration facilities.
* Conversion Science and Technology: A working group composed of DOE, USDA, EPA, National Science Foundation (NSF), and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is collaborating to develop a 10-year federal science and technology research plan by December 2008 for developing cost-effective means of biomass conversion and production of cellulosic biofuels.
* Distribution Infrastructure: A U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)-led group is studying the feasibility of transporting ethanol in pipelines and assessing the availability of geographic information system (GIS) capabilities across agencies.
* Blending: The Board has approved a statement on blending ethanol with gasoline in amounts greater than 10 percent (E10) and will review results of an interagency testing program to evaluate the impact of intermediate blends on vehicle emissions and material compatibility by fall 2008.
* Environment, Health and Safety: An EPA-led working group is inventorying federal activities and areas of jurisdiction with respect to public health, safety, and environmental protection.

The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report provides USDA’s comprehensive forecasts of supply and demand for major U.S. and global crops and U.S. livestock. The report gathers information from a number of statistical reports published by USDA and other government agencies, and provides a framework for additional USDA reports.

Latest WASDE Report

The latest WASDE report is available in TXT and PDF.

2009 WASDE Release Dates:

* January 12, February 10, March 11, April 9, May 12, June 10, July 10, August 12, September 11, October 9, November 10, and December 10

Cotton Estimates
NOTE: A special EXCEL table for upland and extra long staple (ELS) cotton estimates will be posted by noon EST on WASDE report release days.

Meat Estimates
NOTE: Meat trade estimates for the May 2008 WASDE are adjusted to reflect revisions by USDA’s Economic Research Service.
See: http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/meattrade/revisions.htm.

Sydney, Jan 12 : Global warming will severely damage crop output in tropical regions and deprive half the world of food by the century-end, according to a study.

The population of the equatorial belt will bear the brunt of unprecedented shortages, home to the poorest on earth.

Currently three billion people live in the tropics and subtropics, and their number is expected to nearly double by the end of the century. The area stretches from the southern US to northern Argentina and southern Brazil, from northern India and southern China to southern Australia and all of Africa.

In the tropics, the higher temperatures can be expected to cut yields of the primary food crops, maize and rice, by 20 to 40 percent, the researchers said. But rising temperatures also are likely to play havoc with soil moisture, cutting yields even further.

“The stresses on global food production from temperature alone are going to be huge, and that doesn’t take into account water supplies stressed by the higher temperatures,” said David Battisti, University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor, co-author of the study.

He collaborated with Rosamond Naylor, director of Stanford University’s Programme on Food Security and the Environment, to examine the impact of climate change on the world’s food security.

By combining direct observations with data from 23 global climate models that contributed to Nobel prize-winning research in 2007, Battisti and Naylor determined there is greater than a 90 percent probability that by 2100 the lowest growing-season temperatures in the tropics and subtropics will be higher than any temperatures recorded there to date.

They used the data as a filter to view historic instances of severe food insecurity, and concluded such instances are likely to become more commonplace.

Those include severe episodes in France in 2003 and Ukraine in 1972. In the case of Ukraine, a near-record heat wave reduced wheat yields and contributed to disruptions in the global cereal market that lasted two years.

The serious climate issues won’t be limited to the tropics, the scientists conclude. As an example, they cite record temperatures that struck Western Europe in June, July and August of 2003, killing an estimated 52,000 people.

The summer-long heat wave in France and Italy cut wheat yields and fodder production by one-third. In France alone, temperatures were nearly 6.5 degrees Fahrenheit
above the long-term mean, and the scientists say such temperatures could be normal for France by 2100, said a Washington release.

“This is a compelling reason for us to invest in adaptation, because it is clear that this is the direction we are going in terms of temperature and it will take decades to develop new food crop varieties that can better withstand a warmer climate,” Naylor said.

— IANS

Trendwatch
By Rick C. Hodgin
Monday, January 12, 2009 09:29
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Scotia Sea – A three month study began last Wednesday as a geoengineering expedition set sail for the waters off Antarctica. Despite UN objections, the Indian-German expedition is seeking to validate one theory on CO2 sequestering. Can iron injected into the ocean waters help a massive plankton bloom solve man’s CO2 problem and subsequent global warming?

The LOHAFEX experiment plans to spread out 20 tons of iron sulphate particles over a 300 square kilometer region of the northern Antarctica waters, a place called Scotia Sea. The particles are being added to the oceanic waters as part of a test to see if rapid plankton growth in iron-deficient waters can help absorb carbon from the atmosphere into their bodies. Theoretically, once they die they will fall to the bottom of the ocean taking the trapped carbon with them.

According to their website, the rationale behind this effort is study. The site reads, “The spreading of tonnes of iron over the southern ocean is expected to trigger oversized blooms of phytoplankton. The team of physicists, chemists, biologists and geochemists will then study for seven weeks the effects of the algal bloom on the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) between ocean and atmosphere as well as on the planktonic food chain and the organisms of the underlying sea floor.”

While this theory is one of the leading “global warming reversal” ideas, it is not known how much of the plankton will make it to the bottom of the ocean. In addition, it is believed the carbon will be sequestered there “for decades,” but not indefinitely. This could cause a future re-release trapping carbon back in the active environmental system.

In May, 2008, more than 200 countries agreed to a temporary ban on projects designed to fight global warming change. German’s Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel hosted the talks and was quoted as saying, “It’s a very strange idea that technology can solve everything. It’s very risky and shows what humans are ready to do. I’m glad we came to a de facto moratorium.” In October, 2008, an exception was created, signed by 88 countries, that allows “legitimate scientific study” to could be carried out.

Despite the 200 country moratorium and the general view held by the original signers, the Indian-German group is moving ahead with their plans under the allowance. This has given them the name “Climate Hackers” by many, because they will conduct a study which, despite the original UN resolution’s conclusion that man may not have yet achieved a wide enough understanding to fully realize his impact, could have unforeseen side effects in marine life.

Their project will run from January 7, 2009 through March 17, 2009. According to their white paper, the area near Antarctica was chosen due to its stability. The team also needed a place where oceanic iron concentrations were low enough to have an effect by an artificial introduction.

The team will not only study the effects of CO2 sequestering, but also dissolved oxygen and nitrous oxide. These gases are part of the natural cycle occurring in oceanic water which, through the normal course of life, are constantly absorbed from and released back into the atmosphere, according to the paper.

SEATTLE, Jan. 9 (UPI) — U.S. researchers say global warming is likely to result in lower crop yields in the tropics and subtropics. leading to serious food shortages.

The food shortages could hurt half of the world’s population, said David Battisti, a University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor.

The report, published in the journal Science, said higher temperatures in the tropics can be expected to cut yields of the primary food crops, maize and rice, by 20 percent to 40 percent. Rising temperatures also are likely to play havoc with soil moisture, cutting yields even further.

“The stresses on global food production from temperature alone are going to be huge, and that doesn’t take into account water supplies stressed by the higher temperatures,” Battisti said Thursday in a release.

Co-author Rosamond Naylor, director of Stanford University’s Program on Food Security and the Environment, warned that it will take decades to develop new food crop varieties that can better withstand a warmer climate.

“We have to be rethinking agriculture systems as a whole, not only thinking about new varieties but also recognizing that many people will just move out of agriculture, and even move from the lands where they live now,” Naylor said.

Welcome.